The entire "soundtrack"

An Opening Theme

Theme ‘Gonzo’ by James Booker, 1960. James Booker is considered by New Orleanians to be the greatest of the New Orleans style pianists. This rare single from 1960 would have been familiar to locals and features Booker on the electric organ.

Chapter One

Canal St and the D. H. Holmes Department Store “Music for parties” from “The Sound of Super8” by Kodak. During the “Moorish revolt” at Levy Pants, Toole has Ignatius filming the results to send to Myrna to prove his superiority in organizing the proletariat. This recording was issued on vinyl in the early 1960’s to provide a soundtrack to the silent Super8 home movies. The music has an odd cinematic quality that I believe helps foreshadow the coming events in Ignatius life. Also this is possibly something that may have been bundled with the camera purchased by Ignatius. Ignatius’ consumerism brings us back to his waiting in front of the Holmes department store with his purchases from Werleins Music.

Chapter One III

“…and an elegantly dressed young man who chain-smoked Salems and drank frozen daiquiris in gulps.” Salem television ad from 1962

Chapter Two III

“Then he climbed the worn brick steps and heard through the closed shutters a booming chant. Big Girls Don’t Cry” Big Girls Don’t Cry live on American Bandstand 1962. It’s plausible that this may have been the program Ignatius was viewing as patrolman Mancuso knocked on the door.

Chapter Two III

“The music had a frantic, tribal rhythm, a chorus of falsettos sang insinuatingly about loving all night long” “All Night Long” by the Chessmen. The next song in the teenage dancing TV show.

Chapter Two V

“Then the screen glowed in bright , wide Technicolor, the lion roared, and the title of the excess flashed on the screen before his miraculous blue and yellow eyes.” MGM Lion and overture for Billy Rose’s Jumbo 1962

Chapter Two V

“The heroine and Ignatius opened their mouths simultaneously, hers in song, his in a groan.” Doris Day and company sing about ultimate success in Billy Rose’s Jumbo, 1962

Chapter Four IV

“’Perry Como’s face is all green,’ Mrs Levy said with great hostility.” perry como duets “Constantinople” and “Istanbul”with Brenda Lee on tv at levy’s lodge 1961. Chosen to foreshadow the path that the would eventually lead the Levy’s to the Reilly household on Constantinople Street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHRhmG2ndf8

Chapter Four V

“Ignatius had decided against going to the Prytania. The movie being shown was a widely praised Swedish drama about a man who was losing his soul, and Ignatius was not particularly interested in seeing it.” –Trailer for Winter Light by Ingmar Bergman. 1962

Chapter Four V

“Bright lights were burning in the kitchen, and he could hear his mother’s cheap radio through the closed window.” Party Lights 1962

Chapter Five IV

“Having spent countless hours of my life watching those blighted children on television dancing to this sort of music, I knew the physical spasm which it was supposed to elicit, and I attempted my own conservative version of the same on the spot to further pacify the workers.” Soul Twist by King Curtis 1962, this song was chosen off the R&B charts and would have been possibly playing on the radio in the Levy Pants workroom.

Chapter Five V

“Dr. Talc lit a Benson & Hedges, looking out of the window of his office in the Social Studies Building.” Benson and Hedges theme ‘The Dis-advantages of you’ by Brass Ring 1967

Chapter Six II

“The lady with the spiritual bent blew a pitch pipe and the choir members began singing lustily, “Oh Jesus walk by my side,/Then I always, always be satisfied” …still in search for this song, meanwhile I’m substituting Sister Rosetta Tharpes “Strange Things Happen Every Day” which surely would have been a familiar song to the workers at Levy Pants.

Chapter Eight III

“While Santa put on a Fats Domino record on the phonograph, Angelo, sniffling and looking a little confused, sat down on the kitchen chair across from Mrs. Reilly and Mr. Robichaux.” ‘Let the Four Winds Blow’ Fats Domino 1961. This song chosen because of it being a lesser known Domino song that has the driving piano and bass beat that Toole describes, I shun the obviousness of songs like “Walking To New Orleans” because tool describes the song as being upbeat to alleviate the situation in Santa’s house.

Chapter Nine I

“The Yogi Bear program is coming on.” Yogi Bear intro 1961.

Chapter Ten

“Jones threw his broom into a booth and put on the record of “Stranger In Paradise”.” Stranger in Paradise by Trio Los Panchos 1961. This song chosen over the more obvious recordings due to the later appearance of the conchita who tries to chisel $24 dollars out of Ignatius. Since she would be another B-girl in the bar, it’s possible she would have brought some latin American records in with her.

Chapter Ten

“I’ll put on some clogs. I’m in my Ruby Keeler phase’ the young man told Ignatius gaily. Then he began to sing, ‘You go home and get your scanties, I’ll go home and get my panties, and away we’ll go. Oh-ho-ho. Of we’re gonna shuffle, shuffle off to Buffalo-ho-ho…” Ruby Keeler sings Shuffle Off To Buffalo

Chapter Eleven I

“Just watch it Irene, I bet little Debbie’s gonna have her a baby!” Trailer for “That Touch Of Mink”

Chapter Eleven II

“She stared blindly at the screen, in which she saw not Debbie Reynolds cavorting in color, but rather Jean Harlow taking a bath in black and white.” Trailer for Red Dust starring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, 1932, the movie Mr. and Mrs. Reilly saw the evening Ignatius was conceived.

Chapter Twelve I

"From the bowels of a huge stereophonic phonograph the voice of Judy Garland was fighting it's way through the din."
"Sweet Danger', Judy Garland, 1962. A delgihtfully obscure song perfect for the french quarter party.

Twelve I

"Lena Horne was now singing within the phonograph/ 'Clever', 'Crisp', 'Terribly Cosmo', the group around the phonograph was saying reverently."
"Mad About the Boy", Lena Horne, 1944. Exceedingly popular in the homosexual repertoire of the era.

Chapter Twelve I

"Play Gypsy next, I adore Ethel. Oh good, it's coming on."
"Everything's Coming Up Roses" from Gypsy, sung by Ethel Merman, 1962.

Chapter Twelve I

"A three piece band in the wings of the tiny stage was beginning to thump through "You Are My Lucky Star", at the moment on the stage, which itself looked a bit dirty, was empty of orgiasts."
"You Are My Lucky Star" sung by Linda Scott, 1961. In lieu of the band. This sort of arrangement would be perfect for the trio in the wings to bump through.

Chapter Twelve I

"The band stumbled into a four-count version of "Sophisticated Lady".
"Sophisticated Lady" played by Bert Brandma Swing Trio.

Chapter Twelve I

"Just then the three members of the defunct ladies' auxiliary, Frieda, Betty, and Liz stomped into the crowd surrounding Ignatius."
"Boss" by the Rumblers, 1962. A general theme for the lesbians and the fight scene on Bourbon St.

Closing Theme

Allen Toussaint's "St. James Infirmary". I personally thought it would be very evocative as Myrna and Ignatius drive into the wilderness in her Renault